Lilian Vammen and Gitte Vammen

Lilian Vammen and Gitte Vammen
Buestrøg og Bælgtræk – Musik fra en Vestjysk Spillemandsfamilie

Go’ Danish Folk Music Go1910

Traditions are wonderful things, and family traditions even more so – in England look no further than the Copper family, for example. The musical history in Lilian Vammen’s family goes back four generations, and she and partner Gitte keep it going, playing the old repertoire on accordion and piano. Here they offer 31 tunes, typical of an evening of dancing in West Jutland. It’s quite stirring stuff, made for the feet of course, virtually all in 2/4 or ¾, and with some occasional help from a few musicians of the younger generation who’ve been coming to them to learn those old melodies. As a document it’s valuable enough, but as entertainment it’s even more enjoyable. To add even greater lustre, the CD comes with a book that gives the family’s musical history (really only useful if you read Danish) and – here’s the important part – transcriptions of all the tunes on the CD. Kudos for the label for putting this out in such an excellent package, and for caring enough for the past to consider doing this at all.